Imelda and Bonifacio

Imelda and Bonifacio belong to two rival Bolognese families, involved in the struggles between Guelphs and Ghibellines that rocked medieval Italy. Their secret love is discovered by her brothers, who we see armed and lurking behind a column waiting to strike the hated enemy. Bonifacio’s death is followed by that of Imelda, who kills herself with poison, breathing her last over the body of her lover. The story, handed down from a collection of Renaissance novellas, takes up the theme of the more famous story of Romeo and Juliet and, like that, was very popular in the Romantic period. Cesare Mussini, brother of the better known Luigi and a professor of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, painted this picture in 1844. His academic and meticulous style narrates the story of the two lovers from Bologna without managing to move us, focusing on the characters and the detail of the setting equally. (P. Vanoli)